It's The First Day of Spring!

Hello Spring, I like you. I like you because your weather is so much kinder than Winter. So much hope in the crocuses poking their purple heads out of the hard soil, and the yellow dandelions waving their smooth petals in the breeze. I like you because the baby birds are hatching in their nests upon every branch and under every eave and calling out excitedly to the blue skies where their mothers fly drowsily searching for worms.
I like you, dear Spring, because you make my heart think of Easter and new birth, and awakening from long slumbers in the darkness to run through green grassy fields with wildflowers and joy. I like the way you smell after a fresh, light rain. I like the way your light reflects everything golden-hued and how rainbows appear in the sky, and as I wake in my bed, your sunlight's fingers run through my hair.
This is the time when I take long drives just to see the colors on the ground, and the birds in flight, and to get a lemonade from some tiny store I have never been to before. It's when the children and I buy lots of eggs to dye vivid happy colors, and we celebrate Jesus and His triumphant life risen from the tomb. It is Spring, and my mind sprouts with poetry and a full heart. So thankful for the changing of seasons, how they keep me on my feet and ready for action.

I love this picture of us, haha!

Fun with the Delerys on Ben's Birthday:)

My children

I love my children, but there is nothing like the baby of the bunch, the runt of the litter so to speak. He is my cuddle bear, my sweet baby angel. He adores me, sticks up for me. He calls me "beautiful girl." Today while laying in bed upon awaking, (um, because he crawls into bed with my husband and I pretty much every night), we were talking and I said,"Jude, you're my boy." and he replied, "I not a boy! I just Jude Hezekiah, I'm a kid." ha! Three years old. Then he went on to say, "Harmony's a kid, Eli's a kid..." and I asked,"Am I a kid?" and he said, "Noo, you're a wife!" haha. Love it. He's such a cute character. His giggles sound like music to my ears.
I love my children, but there is nothing like the middle child, especially if you yourself are the middle child. My daughter is the middle child, and she is my princess, my sweet peach, my butterfly. She loves pink and dancing and dolls. And she loves her mama. She's a tiny director, a little mother herself, already filling the role of lady. She fills the whole room with her laughter, and seemingly the whole universe lights up. The other day when I was brushing her hair, she looked up at me sassily and said,"What's my hair made of anyways? Spaghetti?" and we burst into giggles together because it sounded so funny. Another day she came running dramatically up the stairs to me in my room, and she said,"Judebug just kicked me in the eye with his hard toe!" I thought it was so hilarious, I couldn't help but laugh, but she was angry at me for laughing "at her"....Such a girl!
I love my kids but there is nothing like the oldest child. I don't know if it's the fact that we got 5 luxurious years all alone together to bond and get to know each other inside out, that formed some sort of mutual respect, but he knows the moment I am off emotionally, when I walk in a room he can just tell. He comes over to me and puts his arms around me and kisses me or looks me in the eye and says, like a small man,"You need a hug, I think." He is so great! He's my little scientist, my curious bookworm. We have much in common, and yet much that is opposite as well. I think (secretly of course) that he is much smarter than me (okay, it may not be a secret...).
The other day I was really exhausted and he came to me and said, "Tomorrow, I am gonna set the bathroom all up like a salon, and I'm gonna put cucumbers on your eyes, and massage you, and you can take a bath with your lavender salts..." Such an amazing kid. Ahhh, I am a lucky mama.
And then there is my "adopted" children...My small friend Becks, whom I would literally do anything for out of love. God has truly blessed me with the wealth of so much love.